Indicateurs de biodiversité dans les exploitations agricoles biologiques et conventionnelles des Vallées et Coteaux de Gascogne, cas d’étude français du projet européen BIOBIO: Biodiversity indicators in organic and conventional farming systems: main results from the European project BIOBIO

In the framework of the European project BIOBIO, we compared between countries habitat and cumulated species richnesses of plants, wild bees, spiders and earthworms, measured in 169 conventional and organic farms belonging to 10 case studies in 10 European countries. For the French case study (Gascony
Valleys and Hills), correlations between direct (habitat and taxonomic richnesses)
and indirect (agricultural practices) indicators of biodiversity within 8 conventional and 8 organic farms, were calculated. Results showed that the main driver of biodiversity at the farm level was the number of cultivated and above all semi-natural habitats, in the French case study region as well as
in the other regions. This factor partially explained the highest biodiversity level of the French case study region. However, farming practices, specific or not
to the organic and conventional systems, most often drove biodiversity parameters at the habitat level. In fine, the project proposed the BIOBIO method for monitoring biodiversity in farms.